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''Family Guy Video Game!'' is a 2006 action-adventure
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed by High Voltage Software and published by 2K. Based on the Fox animated television series of the same name, it was released for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
,
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...
, and PlayStation Portable. A follow-up game, '' Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse'', was released in 2012.


Gameplay

The game is split into 22 levels for the three playable characters: Peter, Stewie or
Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...
. Peter and Stewie have eight levels, while Brian has six. Each character has his own unique style of play. Some other characters can also be controlled by the player during small fractions of Stewie's levels, as he possesses a Mind Controller Device. These include
Lois Lois is a common English name from the New Testament. Paul the Apostle mentions Lois, the pious grandmother of Saint Timothy in the Second Epistle to Timothy (commending her for her faith in 2 Timothy 1:5). The name was first used by English C ...
, Quagmire, Cleveland, Death and Meg, as well as other minor characters and unknown characters. Peter's levels have a
beat 'em up A beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in Side-scrolling video game, scrolling, 2D c ...
style. In Peter's levels, the player rampages across a section of town, attacking anyone and anything in his path. In addition, depending on the player's progression through the game, Peter will adopt a different persona as a result of head trauma, giving his attacks different animations but otherwise similar results. Peter's alter egos are Rufus Griffin, Hooker Peter and A.N.N.A. (Automaton Nuclear Neo-human Android), played in that order. Peter begins and ends the game as himself. Stewie's levels resemble a
platformer A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...
conventional to most licensed games. Stewie uses his upgradeable laser gun to defeat enemies and conveniently placed "sky hooks" to move through various stages. He also uses his Mind Controller Device to briefly control other characters and use their abilities, most notably Death, Quagmire and Lois. Brian's levels have more in common with
stealth game A stealth game is a type of video game in which the player primarily uses ''stealth'' to avoid or overcome opponents. Games in the video game genre, genre typically allow the player to remain undetected by hiding, sneaking, or using disguises. S ...
s. Brian must avoid detection by those around him, and can adopt disguises to fool onlookers. A secondary element in Brian's levels is avoiding his natural urge to urinate on things. Should the player remain near certain objects for too long (potted plants, fire hydrants, etc.), Brian will be forced to pee on them, exposing himself to those around him. Out of the Mind-Controllable characters, Lois has the ability to interact with household items such as the Oven and the Vacuum Cleaner, and she is also the only character that can open the doors inside the family's house. Quagmire and Meg work as Repellents for female and male NPC's, respectively, and can force them to do certain things through their repulsiveness. Death can kill other NPC's and is immune to their attacks. The other characters have no special abilities. Chris is the only character of the main cast of the show that is not playable in any way through the entire game (Not even through Stewie's mind control), although he appears as a NPC. A key feature of the game are mini-games done in the same style as the cutaway gags that the show is famous for, usually lasting less than 10 seconds. The mini-games often repeat cutaway gags from the episodes, such as Peter inexplicably burning his hand in a waffle iron. Successfully completing the mini-game offers a bonus: Brian becomes invisible for a short period, while Peter and Stewie receive power-ups for their respective abilities. Lois and Meg are not benefited by any mini-game.


Plot

Stewie has built a mind control ray, and plans to use it in conjunction with Peter's satellite dish. However, his plans are interrupted by his half-brother Bertram, who claims to want his satellite dish. After making his way to the roof, Stewie decides that he would rather fail at world domination than let the satellite fall into his half-brother's hands, and self-destructs the satellite dish. However, Bertram reveals that he has come to trick him into destroying his own satellite, and he has begun a plan for world domination as well. He then leaves in his
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
, and blasts Stewie off the roof. To discover Bertram's plans, Stewie infiltrates his lair in Peter's testicles. There, Stewie finds the location of Bertram's new lair and promptly lays waste to the facility. Stewie finds Bertram at the top of a missile silo, planning to launch the rocket into orbit so he can project his mind control beam around the world. To add insult to injury, Stewie's teddy bear, Rupert, has been placed inside the rocket. Stewie destroys the rocket, rescues Rupert, and has a final battle with Bertram at the playground. Bertram uses a device to grow to tremendous size, but is defeated anyway. Before Stewie can finish him off, he calls for his "mommy" to escape, leaving Stewie by flipping him off. Brian's section of the game sees him trying to prove his innocence when Carter Pewterschmidt accuses him of once again impregnating his prize-winning racing greyhound Seabreeze. Brian is forced to escape from prison and follow a scent picked up from Seabreeze's genitals. This leads him to Tom Tucker at the Quahog News Station, which turns out to be a dead end. Brian's next stop is the Quahog Dog Races, where Brian, disguised as a food vendor, finds the scent on a discarded ticket stub. He takes Seabreeze's place in the race, wins (by drugging the other dogs), and draws the father out. Brian reveals that the father of Seabreeze's puppies is Glenn Quagmire, thereby clearing his name. Peter, after being smashed on the head by the PTV satellite dish, wakes up in the hospital and sees a spotlight identical to the
Bat-Signal The Bat-Signal is a distress signal device appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, as a means to summon the superhero Batman. It is a specially modified searchlight with a stylized emblem of a bat affixed to the light, allowing i ...
, only in the shape of Mr. Belvedere. Believing that Belvedere has kidnapped his family, Peter rampages across town in an effort to destroy him and save his family. He eventually arrives at Cheesie Charlie's, where he is hit in the head by the doors, opened by several African-Americans. Peter takes on the persona of his cousin and blaxploitation film actor Rufus Griffin and destroys the entire arcade before waking up in the closet. Seeing that the Belvedere signal is now at the Indian Casino, Peter travels there. As he enters, he takes another blow to the head when a hooker attempts suicide by jumping off the roof. Peter becomes Hooker Peter and destroys the casino. He then takes a fourth blow to the head, now seeing the Belvedere signal again at the docks. As he arrives, the debris of Bertram's rocket crashes on him, and Peter emerges as ANNA, an android programmed to destroy Mr. Belvedere. Crossing the dock and the beach, Peter arrives at a cave and is forced into battle with the Black Knight. Peter defeats the knight, but takes a final blow to the head when the knight's helmet falls off and hits him. When he comes to, Lois confronts him, furious that Peter had destroyed half of Quahog looking for Belvedere. In the final level of the game, Peter decides to drown his sorrows at the Drunken Clam. There, he is confronted by Belvedere, who rips off a disguise revealing none other than the Giant Chicken. In the final battle of the game, Peter defeats the Chicken, and just barely escapes a massive explosion in a penthouse, landing safely on top of Meg who, along with Lois and Chris, had inexplicably been standing in the middle of the street. After getting up from Meg and rejoining his family, Peter sees the Belvedere spotlight again which turns out to be Mayor Adam West (which almost starts referencing the ''Batman'' TV series) making shadow puppets. The Chicken, as always, ends up surviving.


Development

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns three major Imprint (trade name), publishing labels, Rockstar Games, Zynga and 2K ...
had attained these rights to publish a ''Family Guy'' video game by February 2005, before the series' revival episode " North by North Quahog" had aired. No further developments were shown until during March 2006, when Take-Two subsidiary
2K Games 2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. The company was founded as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports sub-labels. The nascent label incorporated several developme ...
had acquired these publishing rights, with High Voltage Software to fill in for development. The game predominantly uses the voice cast of the television series, and a
cel-shaded Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a Color gradient, shade gradient or tints and shades. A cel shader is often us ...
visual style. The game was exhibited at
Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo) was an annual Trade fair, trade event for the video game industry organized and presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It was held principally in Los Angeles from 1995 to 2019, wit ...
2006.


Reception

''Family Guy Video Game!'' received "mixed" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' gave the game three stars out of five and said, "Though voiced and scripted by the people behind the TV show, the game is lightweight, and its quirky navigation and control issues make it one for serious fans only." However, ''411Mania'' gave the PlayStation 2 version five out of ten and stated: "The levels are far too simplistic and repetitive for mature gamers to get into. However, with concepts like jumping on pregnant women's stomachs to shoot babies out and prisoners in the shower scrubbing each other down, this game is in no way kid friendly. I guess if you're a fan of the show you may enjoy it, but even then you'd have to be a hardcore fan and not mind all the work involved wading through frustrating game play to get to a punch line you can hear on the show every 2 minutes." '' The A.V. Club'' gave the game a D and stated that it was "littered with gags that flop, and knock-offs from the TV show that look terrible ..The writing is crass enough to earn a "Mature" rating, yet ''Family Guy'' plays like it's meant for 6-year-olds. And somehow, watching the characters beat up old people, kids, and women—and you will beat and kill ''hundreds'' of women if you want to progress—isn't so hilarious when you're at the controls."


Sequel

The game's follow-up, '' Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse'', is based on the 2009 episode " Road to the Multiverse". Developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by
Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
, it was released on November 20, 2012, in North America, in Australia on the following day, and on November 23, 2012, in Europe.


References


External links

* {{Family Guy 2006 video games 2K games Stealth video games High Voltage Software games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation Portable games Video games based on Family Guy Video games with cel-shaded animation Xbox games Take-Two Interactive games Video games developed in the United States Video games set in Rhode Island Single-player video games 3D platformers